By night, Roland Tang is one-quarter of the amazing housemaster team at SP. You’ve probably seen him at various SP events with his wife, Annette, and their two adorable kids, Joshua and Samuel. As one of the housemasters, Roland helps build community at SP by organizing events (such as the Thanksgiving dinner, or Finals’ Breakfast), supporting the SP leadership team, and providing a general source of support (academic, personal, mediation, etc.) for residents.
Most residents see Roland only in his capacity as a housemaster and his commitment to serve the SP community. Yet, by day (and depending on the day), Roland wears a different but analogous hat. Roland works as a pediatrician for the South Cove Community Health Center (SCCHC), which serves over 25,000 underserved Asian children and families in the greater Boston area. In addition to seeing clinical patients, Roland spends half of his time at the SCCHC in outreach and community work – he teaches weekly nutritional health sessions at a local elementary school, and he administers the Reach Out and Read program that provides families with free books and tips to improve early childhood literacy.
ABCD presents Dr. Roland Tang with his award. (Source: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs017/1102336366115/archive/1107905859912.html)
Beyond his work at the SCCHC, though, Roland further gives back to the community through his involvement in the Chinese Church Head Start program. Head Start is a US government-funded program that partners with and funds local organizations to help improve health and childhood development outcomes for low-income families. The Chinese Church program faces special challenges in reaching out to a largely underserved, immigrant population, one that faces language and cultural understanding barriers to navigating the American medical system. Since 2003, Roland has been an active volunteer for Chinese Church, from running parent health education sessions to training staff. He currently is a member of Head Start Health Advisory Committee.
For all of these efforts, this past October, Roland was honored by Boston’s ABCD (Action for Boston Community Development) as one of its “Community Heroes of the Year.” So, if you see Roland around, please thank and congratulate him.
By George Lan, SP President